A poor man diagnosed HIV positive forced to leave hospital

Patna, June 9 (IANS) A 40-year old poor man, diagnosed with HIV/AIDS was forced by authorities of a government hospital in the Bihar capital to leave and advised to stay at his residence. Bhola Paswan, an unemployed Dalit man, was forced to leave the Nalanda Medical College and Hospital here soon after he was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS.

“My son Bhola was admitted to the hospital three days ago for treatment, everything was normal then, but after he was diagnosed HIV positive, doctors forced him Tuesday morning to leave and suggested he go home,” Bulkand Paswan, Bhola’s father said.

Upset, Bulkand Paswan, who works as a security guard at an apartment here, told IANS Tuesday: “Doctors told us that there was no treatment for this deadly disease in the hospital and ordered us to vacate the ward in which my son was admitted for treatment.”

Bhola was suspected HIV positive because of his habit of taking drugs and injections regularly.

However, officials in the hospital denied any such case. “There was no such case, we never forced an AIDS patient to leave the hospital,” said an official in the hospital, on the condition of anonymity.

In the last one year, there were several such cases reported in local dailies that hospital authorities had refused to admit a man or woman diagnosed with HIV/AIDS and forced them to leave without treatment.

According to government sources, there are about 25,000 people identified as suffering from HIV/AIDS in the state.